As humans, sexual pleasure is as basic a need for us as food, water and shelter. Who better to give us this basic need than our own selves? Masturbation then becomes a natural expression of this fundamental desire. Society and cultural norms however seek to control and disguise this natural…
Sexual orientation underlines whom we are attracted to physically, emotionally and sexually. As much as we want it to be, life is never completely one thing, or another. This holds true for sexual orientations too. This philosophy is embodied by conceptualizing sexual orientation as a spectrum. Furthermore, sexual orientations are…
As Zohra and Yogita say in the podcast, Social Anxiety, Introversion and Shyness are not the same! Minute yet significant differences exist between the three of them. So buckle up muchachos, it’s time to investigate and underline this difference. Shyness is a personality trait. Shy people take a while longer…
Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai? Kya aapke zindagi mein stress hai? So if you can choose which toothpaste to brush with, why not choose which stress you endure! Weird idea? Allow me to elaborate. What is choice? Philosophers have been tinkering with this idea for millennia. Essentially, choice is…
What is procrastination? Good question, I’ll answer that later. Maybe you’re reading this because you want to know more. Maybe you’re reading this because there’s some impending work, social obligation or filial responsibility that you’re trying to postpone for a future you that is definitely not going to appreciate it.…
When Amitabh Bacchan said “mere paas maa hai”, it was a resounding statement with far-reaching socio-cultural implications. No amount of material possessions can overpower our need for human connection. The people that we surround ourselves with, the bonds we choose to water, uniquely add to our lives. From a friend,…
Anger, a primal emotion that is ever-present in our daily lives in little ways, is also one of the most searched terms on google. When this piece was written, the most searched query vis-a-vis anger is “how to control anger immediately” followed by “how to control anger and anxiety”. Babies…
“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” It strikes the mother who just realized her kid’s childhood is over, it strikes the 10th std student who realizes their school life…
Who are we? Why are we here? What’s the point? These are some questions that all of humanity has to grapple with at some point in their lives. Existential anxiety is the anxiety that accompanies the thoughts associated with the big picture. If you feel discontent and sad about there…
Women are weak! Men are strong! Fat people are lazy! Short men are ugly! Fair skinned women are beautiful! Don’t worry, we don’t believe any of that. They are all classic examples of a bias. Bias is an unfair tendency to believe that one thing is better or worse than…
Through love, all is possible. Love sustains us, it enhances us, it protects us and it pushes us to be more. What we don’t realize is that this love could be of one, for oneself. Can one of life’s greatest mysteries have such a beautifully simple answer? Why not? Self-love…
WAKE UP, GET DRESSED, GO TO WORK/UNIVERSITY, COME BACK, SLEEP, WAKE UP… A standard modus operandi for most of us. We go through the motions so often that we forget to actually pause, take a breath, and for lack of a better metaphor, smell the roses. Now you could be…
The term exam stress sounds familiar. At some point in your life you must have used it in a conversation, maybe as an excuse or maybe because you actually felt tensed and breathless while you were sweating with confusion, standing sleepy right outside the exam room. But do you actually…
Flourishing during Pandemic – Positive Psychology Edition Have you been sliding invites because you’re too afraid to face a crowd? Does your heart race and your ears go red? Or is it the judgement that haunts you? Well, here’s an invite you would never want to avoid! Inner Planet Present…
Flourishing during Pandemic – Positive Psychology Edition If you were to look up the meaning of “Flourishing” in the dictionary, you would find a definition similar to “grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly congenial environment.” However, what if we tell…
Food sustains us while the right kind of food also promotes a healthy body and a healthy mind. Our eating habits are culturally bound, but are subjected to vary from person to person. Much like other habits, eating habits are also formed as a result of repetition of behavior that…
Have you ever been so “in the moment” that you lost track of time and your surroundings?Perhaps while you were engaging in something creative, working or just playing a video game?If you answered “yes”, you may have experienced the state of flow. What is flow? In the 1970s, positive psychologist…
It is an established fact that technology has assisted us to effortlessly and speedily engage in multiple activities ranging from occupational affairs, to entertainment and recreational pastimes. But lately, it has also taken over the role of bringing people together to unfold all kinds of relationships. This advancement is like…
The Pride Month is almost coming to an end, but you know what isn’t, LOVE! Pride Month lets people from the LGBTQ+ community celebrate who they are. For straight people, it is an opportunity to expand their horizons and learn more about the diverse gender spectrum. If you are wondering…
The stigma attached to mental health in India may not be surprising to many of us. Time and again, we have heard of multiple incidents wherein seeking help is linked with shame or weakness, denying people of the professional support they need and deserve.Although more people are actively seeking support…
One of the fundamental needs of human beings is to love and be loved. For it is love that binds us together and nurtures us. Many times, we consider romantic love to be of more importance, sitting at a higher pedestal. Is romantic love more valuable? Let’s help you decide…
When I was 6 years old, my favourite colour was purple. Now, when people used to ask me, I wanted them to know that this shade of purple is what I was talking about. Purple was still my favourite colour at 12, but not the purple that I mentioned as…
Haven’t received that pay check you hoped to receive at 25? Did not marry by 30?Feeling like you haven’t done as much as you were “supposed” to do by this time in your life? We KNOW that you have felt this way at some point in your life! Being a…
Do you know any kids from school who used to score solid A+ in their report card but couldn’t manage friendships or relationships? One would look at them and feel how they must have the best of everything. Eventually, when they completed their education and entered jobs, they couldn’t manage,…
The brain makes human beings capable of special abilities like thinking, information processing, and feeling. Although we like to consider ourselves as perceptive beings, we tend to make multiple misinterpretations while we process information. This leads to errors in judgment and faulty decision-making and is called cognitive biases. Cognitive biases…
“Weep if you must, parting is hell. But life goes on, so sing as well.” Grief, one of the most difficult emotions that we experience. Whether it is losing a loved one, health, money or breakups, grief leads to at least some disruption in our normal routine. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes…
The road to decide your career is, in fact, filled with speed bumps and roadblocks. The more one is aware of these hurdles the easier it will be for him/her to tackle them and reach the destination. What Are These Speed Bumps And Roadblocks? These barriers are present because of…
Choosing the right career, the one which you will love, and setting up proper goals for it is something that everyone aspires. Achieving goals and espousing the right career is almost like a treasure hunt. Just as a clue map is needed to locate the treasure in a treasure hunt,…
Coronavirus is something that doesn’t even need an introduction anymore. Life seems like something out of a movie script, and not one of those ‘funny, comedic take on an apocalypse’ movies. There is a pandemic looming over us, while all we can do is sit at home and watch it…
Imagine you have earphones in your pocket. The wire gets tangled up, like all earphones do. Try as hard as you might, you are unable to untangle the wire, but you really want to listen to music. Tired, you decide to ask for help. You go to a person who…
Exam stress is that feeling of discomfort you get when you feel like you can’t cope with revision, or feel pressure due to the sense of continuous evaluation going on your head. You must’ve asked yourself why this feeling? What is causing me to feel this way? Is it even…
Social Anxiety is the fear of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness, embarrassment and humiliation. It is the third largest mental health care problem in the world. Did the first line of this paragraph sound familiar to you? Did you just…
‘Oh dear, why don’t you open up to people? Are you shy to make friends? Don’t worry you’re just an Introvert.. try gaining more confidence, you should be an extrovert person to stand out in the crowd.’ Have you heard such conversations or suggestions before? There’s a fine line that…
A New year’s resolution is a promise you make to yourself where you plan to pick up or lose habits to improve yourself, but you never do. Chances are that you have a pile of unfinished new year’s resolutions since 2012. A new year’s resolution is so exciting in the…
Who is a Psychiatrist and what do they do? Psychiatrists are professionals with an MBBS and an MD in Psychiatry. A Psychiatrist is a medical practitioner who can prescribe medication to treat mental illnesses. Psychiatrists work with patients on a biological and psychological level. They look at factors like past…
An ideal career is something all of us want in our lives- a profession which we would enjoy, but which will also feed our bellies. But for most of us, it only remains a dream, as we don’t have the knowledge about what constitutes to a ‘perfect career’. No matter…
Have you ever felt a sudden surge of a very uncomfortable feeling like a dip in your belly when your friends ditched you to a party, when your relatives criticised you for the way you dressed or when you found out that your crush has a partner? All of us…
All your life you hear how intelligence is important to progress in life. How you need to be smart and your brain sharp to become successful. How you need to have a high Intelligent Quotient, aka IQ, in order to have a successful career. Everybody says that success depends on…
There are so many myths that revolve around careers and how they affect your life in different ways. And most of the times, we start believing in them because we hear them way too frequently from friends, family, the aunt who lives next door. But that is certainly not the…
Hobbies and career interests are often confused among people in conversations. People see others who are very good at a certain hobby and claim that they will grow up to become a professional in that field (example, they see a kid who plays the guitar very well and say, “He…
What is Exam Anxiety and How is it Different from Nervousness? Exam season is finally upon us, and with it comes an unholy amount of stress. Most of us have experienced exam-induced stress at some point in our lives. There are a few people, however, who deal with a more…
As humans, sexual pleasure is as basic a need for us as food, water and shelter. Who better to give us this basic need than our own selves? Masturbation then becomes a natural expression of this fundamental desire. Society and cultural norms however seek to control and disguise this natural…
Sexual orientation underlines whom we are attracted to physically, emotionally and sexually. As much as we want it to be, life is never completely one thing, or another. This holds true for sexual orientations too. This philosophy is embodied by conceptualizing sexual orientation as a spectrum. Furthermore, sexual orientations are…
As Zohra and Yogita say in the podcast, Social Anxiety, Introversion and Shyness are not the same! Minute yet significant differences exist between the three of them. So buckle up muchachos, it’s time to investigate and underline this difference. Shyness is a personality trait. Shy people take a while longer…
Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai? Kya aapke zindagi mein stress hai? So if you can choose which toothpaste to brush with, why not choose which stress you endure! Weird idea? Allow me to elaborate. What is choice? Philosophers have been tinkering with this idea for millennia. Essentially, choice is…
What is procrastination? Good question, I’ll answer that later. Maybe you’re reading this because you want to know more. Maybe you’re reading this because there’s some impending work, social obligation or filial responsibility that you’re trying to postpone for a future you that is definitely not going to appreciate it.…
When Amitabh Bacchan said “mere paas maa hai”, it was a resounding statement with far-reaching socio-cultural implications. No amount of material possessions can overpower our need for human connection. The people that we surround ourselves with, the bonds we choose to water, uniquely add to our lives. From a friend,…
Anger, a primal emotion that is ever-present in our daily lives in little ways, is also one of the most searched terms on google. When this piece was written, the most searched query vis-a-vis anger is “how to control anger immediately” followed by “how to control anger and anxiety”. Babies…
“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” It strikes the mother who just realized her kid’s childhood is over, it strikes the 10th std student who realizes their school life…
Who are we? Why are we here? What’s the point? These are some questions that all of humanity has to grapple with at some point in their lives. Existential anxiety is the anxiety that accompanies the thoughts associated with the big picture. If you feel discontent and sad about there…
Women are weak! Men are strong! Fat people are lazy! Short men are ugly! Fair skinned women are beautiful! Don’t worry, we don’t believe any of that. They are all classic examples of a bias. Bias is an unfair tendency to believe that one thing is better or worse than…
Through love, all is possible. Love sustains us, it enhances us, it protects us and it pushes us to be more. What we don’t realize is that this love could be of one, for oneself. Can one of life’s greatest mysteries have such a beautifully simple answer? Why not? Self-love…
WAKE UP, GET DRESSED, GO TO WORK/UNIVERSITY, COME BACK, SLEEP, WAKE UP… A standard modus operandi for most of us. We go through the motions so often that we forget to actually pause, take a breath, and for lack of a better metaphor, smell the roses. Now you could be…
The term exam stress sounds familiar. At some point in your life you must have used it in a conversation, maybe as an excuse or maybe because you actually felt tensed and breathless while you were sweating with confusion, standing sleepy right outside the exam room. But do you actually…
Flourishing during Pandemic – Positive Psychology Edition Have you been sliding invites because you’re too afraid to face a crowd? Does your heart race and your ears go red? Or is it the judgement that haunts you? Well, here’s an invite you would never want to avoid! Inner Planet Present…
Flourishing during Pandemic – Positive Psychology Edition If you were to look up the meaning of “Flourishing” in the dictionary, you would find a definition similar to “grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly congenial environment.” However, what if we tell…
Food sustains us while the right kind of food also promotes a healthy body and a healthy mind. Our eating habits are culturally bound, but are subjected to vary from person to person. Much like other habits, eating habits are also formed as a result of repetition of behavior that…
Have you ever been so “in the moment” that you lost track of time and your surroundings?Perhaps while you were engaging in something creative, working or just playing a video game?If you answered “yes”, you may have experienced the state of flow. What is flow? In the 1970s, positive psychologist…
It is an established fact that technology has assisted us to effortlessly and speedily engage in multiple activities ranging from occupational affairs, to entertainment and recreational pastimes. But lately, it has also taken over the role of bringing people together to unfold all kinds of relationships. This advancement is like…
The Pride Month is almost coming to an end, but you know what isn’t, LOVE! Pride Month lets people from the LGBTQ+ community celebrate who they are. For straight people, it is an opportunity to expand their horizons and learn more about the diverse gender spectrum. If you are wondering…
The stigma attached to mental health in India may not be surprising to many of us. Time and again, we have heard of multiple incidents wherein seeking help is linked with shame or weakness, denying people of the professional support they need and deserve.Although more people are actively seeking support…
One of the fundamental needs of human beings is to love and be loved. For it is love that binds us together and nurtures us. Many times, we consider romantic love to be of more importance, sitting at a higher pedestal. Is romantic love more valuable? Let’s help you decide…
When I was 6 years old, my favourite colour was purple. Now, when people used to ask me, I wanted them to know that this shade of purple is what I was talking about. Purple was still my favourite colour at 12, but not the purple that I mentioned as…
Haven’t received that pay check you hoped to receive at 25? Did not marry by 30?Feeling like you haven’t done as much as you were “supposed” to do by this time in your life? We KNOW that you have felt this way at some point in your life! Being a…
Do you know any kids from school who used to score solid A+ in their report card but couldn’t manage friendships or relationships? One would look at them and feel how they must have the best of everything. Eventually, when they completed their education and entered jobs, they couldn’t manage,…
The brain makes human beings capable of special abilities like thinking, information processing, and feeling. Although we like to consider ourselves as perceptive beings, we tend to make multiple misinterpretations while we process information. This leads to errors in judgment and faulty decision-making and is called cognitive biases. Cognitive biases…
“Weep if you must, parting is hell. But life goes on, so sing as well.” Grief, one of the most difficult emotions that we experience. Whether it is losing a loved one, health, money or breakups, grief leads to at least some disruption in our normal routine. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes…
The road to decide your career is, in fact, filled with speed bumps and roadblocks. The more one is aware of these hurdles the easier it will be for him/her to tackle them and reach the destination. What Are These Speed Bumps And Roadblocks? These barriers are present because of…
Choosing the right career, the one which you will love, and setting up proper goals for it is something that everyone aspires. Achieving goals and espousing the right career is almost like a treasure hunt. Just as a clue map is needed to locate the treasure in a treasure hunt,…
Coronavirus is something that doesn’t even need an introduction anymore. Life seems like something out of a movie script, and not one of those ‘funny, comedic take on an apocalypse’ movies. There is a pandemic looming over us, while all we can do is sit at home and watch it…
Imagine you have earphones in your pocket. The wire gets tangled up, like all earphones do. Try as hard as you might, you are unable to untangle the wire, but you really want to listen to music. Tired, you decide to ask for help. You go to a person who…
Exam stress is that feeling of discomfort you get when you feel like you can’t cope with revision, or feel pressure due to the sense of continuous evaluation going on your head. You must’ve asked yourself why this feeling? What is causing me to feel this way? Is it even…
Social Anxiety is the fear of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness, embarrassment and humiliation. It is the third largest mental health care problem in the world. Did the first line of this paragraph sound familiar to you? Did you just…
‘Oh dear, why don’t you open up to people? Are you shy to make friends? Don’t worry you’re just an Introvert.. try gaining more confidence, you should be an extrovert person to stand out in the crowd.’ Have you heard such conversations or suggestions before? There’s a fine line that…
A New year’s resolution is a promise you make to yourself where you plan to pick up or lose habits to improve yourself, but you never do. Chances are that you have a pile of unfinished new year’s resolutions since 2012. A new year’s resolution is so exciting in the…
Who is a Psychiatrist and what do they do? Psychiatrists are professionals with an MBBS and an MD in Psychiatry. A Psychiatrist is a medical practitioner who can prescribe medication to treat mental illnesses. Psychiatrists work with patients on a biological and psychological level. They look at factors like past…
An ideal career is something all of us want in our lives- a profession which we would enjoy, but which will also feed our bellies. But for most of us, it only remains a dream, as we don’t have the knowledge about what constitutes to a ‘perfect career’. No matter…
Have you ever felt a sudden surge of a very uncomfortable feeling like a dip in your belly when your friends ditched you to a party, when your relatives criticised you for the way you dressed or when you found out that your crush has a partner? All of us…
All your life you hear how intelligence is important to progress in life. How you need to be smart and your brain sharp to become successful. How you need to have a high Intelligent Quotient, aka IQ, in order to have a successful career. Everybody says that success depends on…
There are so many myths that revolve around careers and how they affect your life in different ways. And most of the times, we start believing in them because we hear them way too frequently from friends, family, the aunt who lives next door. But that is certainly not the…
Hobbies and career interests are often confused among people in conversations. People see others who are very good at a certain hobby and claim that they will grow up to become a professional in that field (example, they see a kid who plays the guitar very well and say, “He…
What is Exam Anxiety and How is it Different from Nervousness? Exam season is finally upon us, and with it comes an unholy amount of stress. Most of us have experienced exam-induced stress at some point in our lives. There are a few people, however, who deal with a more…
